Bidwell Mansion · Photo: Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0Chico’s library is a branch of Butte County Library, which lends less per resident than 67% of systems its size
Chico’s library is the Chico Branch, a branch of Butte County Library, which serves 205,928 people and lent 640K items last year.
What stands out about Chico Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Chico’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Chico is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns, #59 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #18. Chico is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
469 community nonprofits are registered in Chico
4.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (94 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.0%
10.0% of Chico’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical California town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Chico’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Butte County Library serves 205,928 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 89 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Butte County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
640K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
165,280 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 18 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Chico Branch, 1108 Sherman Avenue, Chico.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Butte County Library branch.
New in Chico? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chico cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $11M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.2M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 122,176 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chico | Chico Branch | — | 36 | A− |
| Durham | Durham Branch | — | 21 | — unincorporated |
| Butte Creek Canyon | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chico Branch is one branch of Butte County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 205,928 people it serves.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Chico
Does Chico have a public library?
Yes: Chico Branch, 1108 Sherman Avenue, is a branch of Butte County Library, which serves 205,928 people. The branch is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Butte County Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Chico’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Chico’s civic life grade?
A− Chico is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns on civic life, #59 of 448 in California. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Chico.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.